The IBEX 35 rose at the start, but was down 0.13% at 9,170.08 points mid-session. Leading the gains is Fluidra, up 4.22%, followed by Solaria, up 2.98%, and Acciona Energía, up 2%. In red, Cellnex, IAG (Iberia) and Sacyr are the worst with falls of more than 1%.
The season of quarterly results of the Ibex 35 has a new stop in the Fluidra accounts today. The company achieved sales of 554 million euros in the first three months of the year, 17% less than in the same period last year. EBITDA was €121 million, reflecting both a sequential gross margin recovery driven by price increases and the impact of lower sales. The net cash benefit reached 60 million euros due to the lower operating performance and the increase in cash finance costs. He The net profit was 41 million euroscompared to 75 million a year ago.
The company is sticking to its forecasts for 2023. Fluidra forecasts sales of between EUR 2,000 and 2,200 million, EBITDA of between EUR 410 and 480 million and net cash earnings per share of between EUR 0.95 and EUR 1.25 per share.
Rovi Laboratories also presented its financial statements, showing a net profit of 47.5 million euros in the first quarter of the year, compared to 53 million euros in the same period last year. Rovi’s gross operating profit (Ebitda) declined 10% compared to the first quarter of 2022, reaching €66.5 million, with a 3.1 point decline in the Ebitda margin to 33%.
Operating profit declined 2% to 201.6 million euros in the first quarter after sales of pharmaceutical products fell 8% to 92.4 million euros.
Rovi’s Board of Directors will make a proposal to the Annual General Meeting the payment of a dividend of up to EUR 69.88 million, which corresponds to a fixed amount of EUR 1.29 per sharea figure that’s 35% higher than the dividend paid from 2021 earnings. This dividend would imply the distribution of an amount equivalent to approximately 35% of the 2022 consolidated net profit attributable to the parent company.
In the financial sector, analysts have another day to pay attention to Banco Santander’s course. The stock has recovered 2.73% over the last week, although it is already posting significant losses of 7% over the past month and 9.6% for the quarter. So far this year, however, it has maintained its 15.7% gains against Capricorn.
Meanwhile, Iberdrola has denied having plans to buy Germany’s largest electricity company, RWE, as some media outlets had predicted.
On the macro agenda, investors had breakfast with the CPI data for Germany, which came in at an annual rate of 7.2% in April. The interannual interest rate, harmonized for the entire euro area, was in line with the forecast at 7.6%.
“Some readings higher than the analyst consensus estimates will cause both bonds, with the consequent increase in their yields, to fall in price, and equities as investors will interpret that the Fed can start raising prices again at the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in June,” stresses Fernández-Figares. “On the contrary, we believe some ‘better’ data than analysts were forecasting will be celebrated with gains in both markets, with many investors betting on possible rate cuts again this year, a hypothesis we still don’t share.”
New York Federal Reserve Chairman John Williams warned on Tuesday that it is too early to say whether the Federal Reserve has completed raising interest rates, arguing that monetary policymakers will not hold back if further action is needed are.
The price slumps will be imposed on the European stock markets this Wednesday. The EURO STOXX 50 was down 0.29%, as was Germany’s DAX, the CAC 40 was down 0.24%, the UK’s FTSE 100 was down 0.13% and the FTSE MIB was down 0.11%. The Portuguese PSI 20 is up 0.12%.
Benchmark Brent oil futures in Europe fell 1.32% to $76.42 a barrel, while US West Texas fell 1.34% to $72.72.
In the fixed income space, the Spanish 10-year bond offers a yield of 3.45%, keeping the risk premium over the German counterpart at 109.10 points. Across the Atlantic, the benchmark US 10-year bond offers a secondary market yield of 3.522%.
The euro appreciated 0.07% against the dollar to settle at $1.0974 for each common currency.